Pump-regulating system.



PATENTED MAY 29, 1906.

G. E. CHAMBERLAIN & J. J. MERRILL.

PUMP RBGULATING SYSTEM.

APPLIGATION FILED JUNE 15,1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

@MM lw hm .m' MN ATTORNEYS.

No. 822,184. PATENTED MAY 2-9, 1906. G. E. CHAMBERLAIN &-J. J. MERRILL.

PUMP RBGULATING SYSTEM.

APPLIGATION FILED JUNE 15, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

l/VVE/VTORS.

ATTORNEYS.

1 UNITED STATES PATENT OEFIOE.

GEORGE CHAMBERLAIN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, AND JOSEPH J.

MERRILL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PUMP-REGULATING SYSTEM,

Patented May 29, 1906.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, GEORGE E. CHAM- BERLAIN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of the city of St. Louis and State of Missouri,and JOSEPH J. MERRILL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident ofthe city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of 1111- nois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Pump-Regulating Systems, ofwhich the followin is a specification.

Our invention re ates to systems and apparatus for regulatingsteam-pumps, and especially feed-water pumps.

It has for its principal objects to maintain a pressure of waterdiffering from the steampressure by a constant amount, to maintain aconstant water-pressure by a pump actuated by alluid-pressure motoroperating under constant pressure; to regulate the pressure of the waterby automatically regulating the quantity of the motive fluid admitted tothe throttle of the motor or directly to the motor, to automaticallymaintain the water in a boiler at a constant level, to provide a novelvalve for controlling the sup ly of steam to the engine and controlled ythe relative pressure of the water and the steam, and other objectshereinafter more fully appearing.

Our invention consists in the parts and in the arrangements andcombinations of parts, hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, andwherein like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur, Figure 1is a view of an installation incorporating the invention. Fig. 2 is across sectional new of the regulating-valve.

As an illustration of the invention an installation having asteam-engine 1 and a ump 2 of the reciprocating-piston type has lieenselected. It Is to be understood, however, that the ap lication of theinvention is not limited to uid -pressure motors and pumps of this type.The pistons of the engine and pump are directly connected by a commonpiston-rod 3. The water pumped by the pump is delivered into a pipe 4,leading to the boilerB. If the system is to be applied to a hydraulicsystem to maintain a constant pressure therein, the pipe 4 will beconnected to the mains or the pipes of the distribution system. Asteam-su pl pipe 5 leads from the boiler to the throttlli of t extendsdownwardl seat and 1s connecte to said alanced'valve.

he engine 1 or directly to the engine and is provided with aregulating-valve 6.

The valve 6 comprises a divided casing, the parts of which are boltedtogether. The ower part or body of the casing is provided withinternally-screw-threaded connections 7 8 for connecting the sections ofthe steam- The u er part or dome of the valve is pro vided i aspring-seat 17 near the lower portion. A sprmg 18 is seated'onsaidspringseat and bears at its upper end on a disk 19, secured by means ofnuts 20 to arod 2 1, which throu h said spring- By adjusting the nuts 20the force necessary to seat said alanced valve may be varied, as]desired.

The flexible diaphragm 22 is secured between the body and dome of thevalve, and disks 23 24 secure the central ortion of the diaphragm tosaid rod 21. T 's diaphragm may be of German silver or rubber or othersuitable material, as desired. It separates the valve-casing into twonon-communicatchambers. 'The disks 23 and24 are provi ed with annularbearing-surfaces '23 and 24*, respectively. The two parts of thevalve-casing are provided with corres 0nding annular bearing-surfaces 23an 24, which serve as stops to limit the movement of the dia hragm andof the balanced valve also, which is rigidly connected by means of therod 21.

The dome'com rises a cylindrical portion, which accommodates said spring18 and which is closed by a cap 25.

A small pipe 27 is connected to the pipe 4, 7

leading from the pum and is connected to the dome of the valve y thetapped hole 26 It is provided with a U-shaped section 28, extending atright angles to its length, which serves two purposes. This U-shapedsection permits expansion due .to changes of temperature. It alsopermits the use of some li uid other than water in the dome of the vave. For example, the dome of the valve and at A balanced valve 00,-,

least part of one leg of the U-shaped section of the pi e may befilled'with oil or other liquid which will not act upon the material ofwhich the valve is constructed. The remainder of the pipe is filled withwater. Thus the li uid in the dome of the valve is put under t epressure of the water in the pipe ,4. If desired, the water may beadmitted to the dome of the valve.

The regulating-valve is divided into two 7 non-communicatingchambers-one a steamchamber, the other a chamber containing liquid underthe pressure produced by the pump in the pipe 4. The diaphra m betweenthe chambers is acted upon y the pressure of the steam and the liquidand, fur ther, by the force exerted by the spring, which acts with thesteam-pressure. When the water-pressure is greater than thecombined'forcesexerted by the spring and the steam, the balanced valvewill be seated and the supply of steam will be wholly or partially cutofl. On the other hand, when the water-pressure is less than thecombined forces of the steam and the spring the balanced valve will beraised, more steam will be admitted to the engine, and this conditionwill continueuntil the pressure of the water has been raised to thedesired point. By properly regulating the tension of the spring thewater-pressure can be maintained at a pressure which will, be above thesteam-pressure. any desired constant amount. It is therefore possible toautomatically maintain the water in the boiler at a substantiallyconstant level.. To force water into the boiler, it is necessar that thepressure in the main be equal to t e steam-pressure in theboiler plusthe pressure due to the weight of the water in the boiler and theresistance oflered by the injector and the pipe-line. Hence thewater-pressure in the main must exceed the steam-pressure, by anascertainable amount. If now the spring is adjusted to offer resistanceequal to this excess of pressure, the valve will so control thesteampump that the water will be maintained at a substantially constantlevel in the boiler. The moment the water gets too high in the boilerthe water-pressure will increase and cause the supply of steam to the enine to be diminished or entirely out ofl. hen the water-level fallsagain, the water-pressure will decrease and cause the supply' of steamto the engine to be increased. Thus by means of the valve the feed-ofwater is automatic ally so regulated as to maintain the waterlevel inthe boiler substantially constant, and hand regulation for this purposemay be dispensed with.

If the steam-pressure remains constant, the water-pressure will remainconstant, and hence the system isapplicable to any hydraulic system.

Obviously our system is capable of modiproduce the pressure of t.diaphragm operatively connected to said valve, non-communicatingchambers upon oppo'slte sides of sa1d dlafihragm, means to e motlvefluid 1n one chamber, and means to roduce in the other chamber thepressure 0 the liquid delivered by the pump, the areas of the two sidesof the diaphragm exposed to such pres-, sures being substantially equal.

2. A system for re ulating pumps comprising a pump, a fiui pressuremotor opera tively connected to sa1d pump to actuate the same, a valveto control the supply of motive fluid to said motor, a spring-dlstendeddia phragm operatively connected to. said valve,

i non-communicating chambers upon opposite sides of said diaphragm,means to produce the pressure of the motive fluid in one chamr ber, andmeans to produce in the other chamber the pressure of the liquiddelivered by the pump, the areas of the two sides of the diaphragmexposed to such pressures being substantially equal. r

3. A system for re ulating pumps compris ing a pump, a flui -pressuremotor operatively connected to sa1d pump to actuate the same, a pipe toconduct the motive fluid to said motor provided with a regulating-valvehaving non-communicating chambers, a dia phragm between said chambers,and a balanced valve operatively connected to said. diaphragm, themotive fluid filling one of said chambers, a pipe to convey the llquid,delivered by said pump, and means to transmit the pressure in sa1dlast-mentionedp'ipe to the other of said chambers, the areas of the twosides of the diaphragm exposed to pressure being substantially equal.

4. A system of pump-regulation comprising a pump, afluid-pressure motoroperatively connected to sa1d pump to actuate the same, a pipe toconduct the motive fluid to said motor, a pipe to carry the liquiddischarged by sald pump, and a regulatingvalve having non-communicatingchambers in communication, respectively, with said pipes, and having avalve arranged to be actuated by the difference between the ressuresofsaid motive-fluid pressure and 0 said liquid, and a spring arranged toexert force upon said valve in the direction of one of said pressures,the pressure areas of said valve being substantia ly equal.

5. A system for regulating feed-water pumps comprising a boiler, a pump,a pipe connecting said pump and said boiler, a steam-engine operativelyconnected to said pump, a steam-pipe connectlng said engine and saidboiler an provided with a regulating-valve having non-communicatingchambers, a diaphragm between said chambers, one of said chambers beingfilled with steam and a spring arranged to 'coact with the steam on saiddiaphragm,and a pi e leading from said water-pipe to the .other e amberof said valve, whereby the pressure in said pipe may be induced in saidchamber, the respective pressure areas of said diaphragm beingsubstantially equal.

6. A regulating-valve comprising a casing, a flexible diaphragmseparating said casing into two non-communicating chambers, aspring-seat mounted in one of said chambers, a spring seated on said sring-seat, a valve in the other of said cham ers, and a rod con nectingsaid valve, diaphragm and spring.

7. A regulating-valve comprising a casing,

a flexible diaphragm separating saidcasing into two non-communicatingchambers, a spring-seat mounted in one of sa1d chambers,

a spring seated on said seat, a rod connected .into non-communicatingchambers, a balanced valve operatively connected to said diaphragm,members secured to said diaphragm having bearing-surfaces, and stops onsa1d casing cooperating with said members to limit the amplitude ofvibration of said diaphragm.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of the subscribing witnesses.

G. E. CHAMBERLAIN. .J. J. MERRILL.

Witnesses as to signature of G. E. Chamberlain:

FRED F. REISNER, J. B. MEGOUN.

Witnesses as to signature of J. J. Merrill:

S. M. ARESON, JEssIE F. PIERCE.

